Tomasz Gop Explains that Lords of the Fallen is Different from Dark Souls

From the creators of The Witcher, Lords of the Fallen is an upcoming single-player action RPG developed by Deck13, and CI Games, and will published by Bandai Namco for PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Lords of the Fallen takes place in a world once dominated by a cruel and evil god. After aeons of torment, humanity tires of his malice, rising up and destroying his demon army before finally managing to best the god himself in combat.

The effect caused by the humans’ collective psyche and culture is profound. They believe that evil can and should be banished from human nature. A codex of sin is created, listing all the transgressions a mortal can perform. Anyone found to have committed anything in the tome is instantly branded across their face and cast out from society, never to return.

Things progress until, centuries later, the demons start to reappear, reaping destruction across the land. Desperate for aid, the remaining humans make the only logical decision they can--they decide the only force that can stand against evil is evil itself. The search begins to find the outcast that has been branded most heavily in punishment for his crimes--cue in you, the player.

Executive Producer Tomasz Gop has struggled with the game's flattering comparison to Dark Souls, which admittedly was an inspiration--but not a rip-off.

"It's a tough start for a developer to be associated that strongly with something, even if it is something that's a great inspiration. But at the same time, just one day I said, 'Hey man, you have to let go. Whatever people think, just make sure it's not going to be a rip-off, it's not going to be a bad inspiration,' and I sleep way better since then," said Gop.

Gop explained that combat--"the most prominent feature"--is very different. It takes more inspiration from fighting games, resulting in something that's more fluid, faster, and more reactive. Players can snap out of any animation to block or attack at a moment's notice, for example.

"There are fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighter, there are elements of the Dark Souls games and so on, and we definitely try to nail the elements that bumped the feeling of the game being punishing for a lot of players, especially for people who don't treat games like 600-page books, where they have to bite nails into it. But rather, more like an action movie - we're an action RPG and I believe that Lords is more on the action side of that.

"What it does share, however, is its flair for surprises. Seemingly familiar foes in Lords of the Fallen will change as the adventure progresses, keeping players on their toes, while a hands-off demo showed spider creatures that suddenly dropped from the ceilings, often giving the player a good scare.

"Lords of the Fallen won't be a story-driven game, and while like Dark Souls it will use cut scenes sparingly, it will also tell it through audio files found throughout the world.

"We're not trying to impose the story, which would probably be expected from a heavily story-driven game... But at the same time, we want to keep what the orthodox RPG fans would expect from a decent RPG."

Character development focuses on three pillars: Spells, Attributes and Gear, with only the first being linked to your class. This means the vast variety of the game’s weapons and armour can be mixed to suit your style.

Magical abilities are extremely powerful in Lords of the Fallen. Tools for tackling tough opponents include sneaking up to strike them from behind for extra damage, or in some cases, taking an alternative route to avoid the fight entirely.

There is a strong emphasis on the importance of observing your opponent and learning their move set in order to defeat them. The game is designed to be challenging, but exactly how challenging is up to you.